Novels by Poets

My last post was about poetry collections. Since then, I’ve been reading novels by poets. I started with The Yellow Birds (M) by Kevin Powers. This book had come recommended from several different people – one describing it as rich, but not complicated. I didn’t know Kevin Powers was a poet until I read the author bio. I also didn’t know the book was about war – Iraq. I can be closed-minded when it comes to war; I don’t want that as a central theme or setting. But it’s hard to avoid altogether. I found Kevin Powers’ novel somber and reflective. It depicted a reality of place and circumstance that felt genuine without being glorifying. The characters were complex, and I was particularly struck by the difficulties around intimacy; Powers skillfully portrays the struggle to relate to others (on a variety of levels) who have not shared the same experiences.

From there I moved onto Ben Lerner’s Leaving the Atocha Station (M). This book follows an American poet, Adam Gordon, who travels to Spain on a scholarship. I had been planning to read this book for close to a year; the more time that went by, it seems, the more my expectations grew.

But it didn’t take long for the narrator to push me away. He is young and medicated and his introspection delves into obsession and paranoia; he does not trust others, and buries himself inside himself; it is as though he is playing a game of chess with the whole world, trying to stay ahead of every possible move. At times, it reminded me of Crime and Punishment. Characters are an integral part of an enjoyable reading experience for me; I want them to be observant and reflective, but if they spend too much time in their own head, I feel like mine is going to burst. Leaving the Atocha Station also chronicles the 2004 train bombings in Madrid, and the social and political response. And the author pays careful attention to detail and language – similar to Powers. But Lerner examines language in a more direct way. Adam Gordon speaks little Spanish, and does not want to become fluent. He prefers to live in the murk of attempted translation; to respond to questions and statements that he only partially understands. These moments traded the heaviness of self-sabotage in favour of the general wonder and frustration of language. I enjoyed these examinations, and the personification of grammatical parts. But ultimately, I preferred The Yellow Birds.

I checked Novelist for suggestions of where to go next. Every title related to The Yellow Birds revolved around the military content. I was reluctant to see the suggestions for Leaving the Atocha Station – I didn’t think I could handle another narrator like Adam Gordon. But I liked what I found. A Kim Stanley Robinson (M) book that I had read and enjoyed. A Jim Harrison (M) book – someone else I’ve been meaning to read after hearing a great interview with Eleanor Wachtel. And the one I settled on, Invisible (M) by Paul Auster. Also about a poet, the books are both character-driven and share the subject Identity (psychology). I’m devouring it. The protagonist, who also travels abroad on a scholarship, struggles to find happiness and often feels like an outcast. But he is not so self-loathing. And of course, Paul Auster is a poet too.

Outstanding Achievement in the Literature of Psychological Suspense, Horror, and the Dark Fantastic- The Shirley Jackson Awards

In recognition of the legacy of Shirley Jackson’s writing, and with permission of the author’s estate, the Shirley Jackson Awards have been established for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic.

The winner of the 2012 Shirley Jackson Award in the Novel category is:

Edge: a novel (M)
by Koji Suzuki 

"Edge begins with a massive and catastrophic shifting of the San Andreas fault. The fears of California someday tumbling into the sea--that have become the stuff of parody--become real. But even the terror resulting from this catastrophe pales in comparison to the understanding behind its happening, a cataclysm extending beyond mankind's understanding of horror as it had previously been known. The world is falling apart because things are out of joint at the quantum level, about which of course there's never been any guarantee that everything has to remain stable.

Koji Suzuki returns to the genre he's most famous for after many years of "not wanting to write any more horror." As expected from Suzuki, the chills are of a more cerebral, psychological sort, arguably more unsettling and scary than the slice-and-dice gore fests that horror has become known in the U.S. Never content to simply do "Suzuki"--as it were--but rather push the envelope on what horror is in general and for which readers have come to know him, Edge borders on being cutting-edge science fiction. The author himself terms this novel, which he has worked on for some years, a work of "quantum horror."" -Publisher

The other finalists:

Immobility (M)
by Brian Evenson 

" When you open your eyes things already seem to be happening without you. You don't know who you are and you don't remember where you've been. You know the world has changed, that a catastrophe has destroyed what used to exist before, but you can't remember exactly what did exist before. And you're paralyzed from the waist down apparently, but you don't remember that either.

A man claiming to be your friend tells you your services are required. Something crucial has been stolen, but what he tells you about it doesn't quite add up. You've got to get it back or something bad is going to happen. And you've got to get it back fast, so they can freeze you again before your own time runs out. Before you know it, you're being carried through a ruined landscape on the backs of two men in hazard suits who don't seem anything like you at all, heading toward something you don't understand that may well end up being the death of you. Welcome to the life of Josef Horkai…." - Publisher

The Drowning Girl (M)
by Caitlín R. Kiernan

"Using lovely, reflective, and funny prose, Kiernan explore a young girl's deviation from reality as she struggles with mental illness. Indian Morgan Phelps, Imp to her friends, is schizophrenic and attempting to write a factual story of the night a drowned girl appeared to her. A self-described unreliable narrator, Imp's fragmented mind fights her memory, which produces multiple realities. Imp knows the drowned girl is Eva Canning and that she suddenly appeared on the road Imp was driving, but was Eva in the form of mermaid, siren, or wolf, and was it July or November? Attempting to write down the factual events of an ever-shifting story drags Imp into the murky waters of insanity, which threaten her life. The result is an excellent piece of fiction, both startlingly original and suspenseful" - Booklist

The Devil in Silver (M)
by Victor LaValle

"Pepper is a rambunctious big man, and, suddenly, the surprised inmate of a budget-strapped mental institution in Queens, New York. He's not mentally ill, but that doesn't seem to matter. On his first night, he's visited by a terrifying creature who nearly kills him before being hustled away by the hospital staff. It's no delusion: The other patients confirm that a hungry devil roams the hallways when the sun goes down. Pepper rallies three other inmates in a plot to fight back: Dorry, an octogenarian schizophrenic; Coffee, an African immigrant with severe OCD; and Loochie, a bipolar teenage girl. Battling the pill-pushing staff, one another, and their own minds, they try to kill the monster that's stalking them. But can the Devil die?" - Publisher

Gone Girl (M)
by Gillian Flynn 

"*Starred Review* When Nick Dunne's beautiful and clever wife, Amy, goes missing on their fifth wedding anniversary, the media descend on the Dunnes' Missouri McMansion with all the fury of a Dateline episode. And Nick stumbles badly, for, as it turns out, he has plenty to hide, and under the pressure of police questioning and media scrutiny, he tells one lie after another. Juxtaposed with Nick's first-person narration of events are excerpts from Amy's diary, which completely contradict Nick's story and depict a woman who is afraid of her husband, has recently found out she's pregnant, and had been looking to buy a gun for protection. In addition, Amy is famous as the model for her parents' long-running and beloved children's series, Amazing Amy. But what looks like a straighforward case of a husband killing his wife to free himself from a bad marriage morphs into something entirely different in Flynn's hands.

As evidenced by her previous work (Sharp Objects, 2006, and Dark Places, 2009), she possesses a disturbing worldview, one considerably amped up by her twisted sense of humor. Both a compelling thriller and a searing portrait of marriage, this could well be Flynn's breakout novel. It contains so many twists and turns that the outcome is impossible to predict." - Booklist

Staff Pick - The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

The Ocean at the End of the Lane (M) by Neil Gaiman is likely to be amongst my list of favourites for 2013. It is a modern-day fairy tale for adults that leaves you feeling uncomfortable but is so compelling that it demands that you read the book in one sitting.

An unnamed narrator returns to his childhood village in order to deliver the eulogy at a funeral. He drives to where his house once stood and is drawn to a house with a pond at the end of the lane. As he encounters familiar landmarks he is flooded with memories of the three generations of Hempstock women who lived on the farm. We are taken back to when he was a boy of seven and the distressing events which he had forgotten. It all began with his family’s reversal of fortune when they were forced to take in lodgers in order to maintain their home. One lodger, a South African opal miner, first ran over the boy’s beloved kitten and then, in despair for his financial misdealings, committed suicide in the family’s car. A malevolent force, kept in check by the Hempstock women, heard his tortured lament and, in a misguided attempt to help, unleashed a series of terrifying events.

The story begins with the boy’s seventh birthday party to which no one shows up. He is a solitary bookish child who does not appear to mind this, however the stage is set and you are already feeling distressed for him. In the style of Enid Blyton’s (M) children, the boy is resourceful and clear sighted while the adults around him seem shadowy, absent, incompetent and finally downright dangerous. The boy unwittingly unleashes the evil onto the physical world and faces the fear of an unexpurgated Grimm fairy tale as his father becomes a physical threat to him and he has no one to turn to beyond the Hempstock women.

I don’t want to give any more away, but I do highly recommend this frightening and rewarding story about memory, forgetting, trust and redemption.

Gaiman’s latest brings to mind John Connelly’s The Book of Lost Things (M). “High in his attic bedroom, twelve-year-old David mourns the death of his mother. He is angry and alone, with only the books on his shelf for company. But those books have begun to whisper to him in the darkness, and as he takes refuge in his imagination, he finds that reality and fantasy have begun to meld. While his family falls apart around him, David is violently propelled into a land that is a strange reflection of his own world, populated by heroes and monsters, and ruled over by a faded king who keeps his secrets in a mysterious book... The Book of Lost Things.  An imaginative tale about navigating the journey into adulthood, while doing your best to hang on to your childhood.” publisher

 

Hot Urban Fiction - 5 new street lit titles

A Deeper Love Inside : the Porsche Santiaga story (M)
by Sister Souljah

"Sharp-tongued, quick-witted Porsche worships her sister Winter. Cut from the same cloth as her father, Ricky Santiaga, Porsche is also a natural-born hustler. Passionate and loyal to the extreme, she refuses to accept her new life in group homes, foster care, and juvenile detention after her family is torn apart. Porsche - unique, young, and beautiful - cries as much as she fights and uses whatever she has to reclaim her status. Unselfish, she pushes to get back everything that ever belonged to her wealthy, loving family. In A Deeper Love Inside, readers will encounter their favorite characters from The Coldest Winter Ever, including Winter and Midnight. Sister Souljah's soulful writing will again move your heart and open your eyes to a shocking reality."--Publisher

Fly Betty: a Harlem Girl lost novel (M)
by Treasure Blue

"In the entertainment industry, there is a secret society of women vying for an opportunity to live a lavish lifestyle by snagging a famous young millionaire. Betty Blaise, or Fly Betty to those who truly know her, was not in it to be a wife. She had her sights set higher. While most of these women use sex as their weapon, Betty developed one that proves much more powerful. But when she encounters a man that she would never have anticipated falling for, the very rules Betty once lived and died by are going to be put to the test." - Publisher

Gangsta Divas (M)
by De'nesha Diamond

"The deadliest ride-or-die chicks in Memphis have a new rival. Meet the Cripettes. They're the realest of the real -- raging war with both the Queen Gs and the Flowers. But when all's said and done, only one gang can reign supreme. . .The streets of the Dirty South have never been meaner as the ruthless women of warring hoods are just a few body bags away from total domination. Determined to rain bullets on Shotgun Row, lieutenant Lucifer teams up with Profit, head gangsta of the Vice Lords and a man bent on revenge. Good girl gone bad Ta'shara sets her sights on knocking her evil sister off the throne -- but she's unprepared for what's ahead. Qiana's deal with the devil to take ambitious Yolanda out of the picture plants her at the center of a manhunt that will jeopardize her own position. And as Queen G LeShelle's list of enemies multiplies, the final knockout may come from the last person she expects. While the war zone expands, these gangsta divas take no prisoners for the chance to rule it all." - OverDrive

Dirty Rotten Liar (M)
by Noire

"What can go wrong when con-mami Mink LaRue joins forces with her slick-tongued look-alike Dy-Nasty Jenkins to run a three-hundred-grand hustle on the super-rich Dominion oil family? With the conniving Philadelphia stripper Dy-Nasty seeking to dip her fingers into the same pot of gold, Mink knows she has to play her hand right and hustle at the very top of her grind. But when Mink is suddenly called back home to be at the bedside of her sick mother, she is forced to leave Dy-Nasty alone at the mansion to work a solo scam on the Dominions and possibly claim the entire jackpot for herself. Will Dy-Nasty lie her way into the hearts of the Dominions and be declared a rightful heir to the vast family fortune? Or, will fate throw a cruel twist in the game and get both ghetto princesses kicked out of the mansion and left on the curb, dead broke?" Publisher

Real Wifeys. Hustle Hard: an urban tale (M)
by Meesha Mink

"Sophie “Suga” Alvarez is all about two things: loving her man and making her money. Suga is the wifey of Dane, a man whose criminal lifestyle as a loan shark is in total contrast to her successful career in business. Dane swears he will go legit before they get married, but when their house is raided, Suga has to decide to avoid jail time by turning on him or standing by the man she loves. Things get more complicated when she steps in to run Dane’s business and has to use her book and street smarts to stay ahead of the game and out of the line of fire. Meanwhile, when Suga learns the terrible truth about her father’s criminal past, she uncovers a secret that will change her relationship with her former best friend, Luscious, forever. Real Wifeys: Hustle Hard is the third and most explosive installment in a fierce and gritty series from one of today’s boldest voices in street lit." - Publisher

Lest We Forget - Korean War Stories

Today is the 60th anniversary of the end of the Korean War (1950 -1953). In recognition of the contributions and sacrifices made by those involved, I offer the following reading suggestions.


The War That Wasn't (M)
by Les Peate

"Some called it a "conflict", others a "police action." The Department of National Defence called it a "United Nations operation." To the almost 27,000 Canadians who fought and died there, Korea was most definitely a war - an unpleasant and dangerous war. These are the stories of the Canadians and their allies who served in the Korean theatre between 1950 and 1953 - and in later years." - Publisher

Canada And the Korean War (M)
by The Directorate of History and Heritage

"A Commemorative History celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Korean War Armistice. Canada and the Korean War, published by Art Global, in a series of commemorative books on Canadian military history, recounts Canada's contribution to the “Forgotten War” relating the history of the three services-the Army, Navy and Air Force-in words and images (extensive maps, photographs and War art), and reconstituting the political and diplomatic context of the time" - Publisher

Women Overseas : memoirs of the Canadian Red Cross Corps (M)
edited by Frances Martin Day, Phyllis Spence and Barbara Ladouceur

"In these Red Cross memoirs, thirty women tell their stories of volunteer work with the Canadian Red Cross Corps in overseas postings during World War Two and the Korean War. These dramatic narratives take us across oceans infested with enemy submarines to witness Canadian women on duty in the U.K., in Europe and in Asia. Laced with humour and filled with grace, these stories are a testament to the vital yet often overlooked responsibilities that thousands of women gallantly accepted for the Allied war effort. Women Overseas is a companion volume to the national bestseller Blackouts to Bright Lights: Canadian War Bride Stories." - Publisher

Fiction:


The Coldest Night : a novel (M)
by Robert Olmstead

A combination of war novel and love story, this work follows Henry, a young man in 1950 West Virginia, as he falls for a wealthy young woman and runs away with her to New Orleans. When their affair is violently interrupted by her family, Henry enlists in the marines. The Korean War is raging, and Henry experiences an epic battle, gruesome wounds, and unforgettable horrors. Although the book is framed by a love affair, the heart of it-and where the narrative is most gripping-is Henry's experience in combat. Olmstead (Coal Black Horse) has a spare, direct style that is most effective in the brilliant, engrossing combat descriptions and ironic marine banter. In the West Virginia scenes, the clipped conversations of the characters are more noticeably stylized. VERDICT A novel of the early 1950s and the Korean War that will appeal to readers of literary fiction. " - Library Journal

The Post-War Dream: a novel (M)
by Mitch Cullin

"After his multifaceted fictional portrait of Sherlock Holmes, A Slight Trick of the Mind, Cullin turns to a seemingly more ordinary tale of a Korean war vet haunted by both his combat experiences and the recent fatal diagnosis of his wife's ovarian cancer. One nightmare bleeds into the next as Hollis and his wife struggle to accept their inevitable separation. As Hollis stands on the golf course abutting his gated community, he is visited by a specter he recognizes as himself, or the self he would have been if he had given in to the drinking binges he took to in the immediate aftermath of the war. Instead, he journeyed to Texas to meet the family of Bill McCreedy, the loudmouth soldier he served beside, hated, and watched die. As he artfully dodges the family's questions, he sets about stealing the heart of the soldier's former fiancée. Cullin's brilliantly clear descriptions of both emotions and landscapes give this story a near-mystical feel as Hollis' life is shown to be far from ordinary" - Booklist

Once the Shore: stories (M)
by Paul Yoon

Yoon's collection of eight richly textured stories explore the themes of family, lost love, silence, alienation and the effects of the Japanese occupation and the Korean War on the poor communities of a small South Korean island. In the namesake story, a lonely young waiter connects with an American widow who has come to find the cave where her husband claimed to have carved their initials during his tour of duty in Korea. The narrator shifts between Jim coping with the loss of his big brother, a fisherman killed by a surfacing American submarine, and the sorrow of the widow. In "Among the Wreckage," aging parents Bey and Soni hope to recover the body of their son, Karo, killed in a U.S. military bombing test on what was thought to be a deserted island. The sad journey provides Bey an opportunity to examine his inability to show affection to his wife and only child. Yoon's stories are introspective and tender while also painting with bold strokes the details of the lives of the invisible.

New Voices in Crime Fiction - 5 impressive debuts

Ghostman (M)
by Roger Hobbs

"*Starred Review* A first novel comes along every few years that clearly separates itself from the field, like Secretariat winning the 1973 Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths. This year's Secretariat is going to be Ghostman, a propulsive thriller that combines incredible detail and nonstoppable narrative drive. Jack White is the Ghostman, a pseudonymous loner living far off the grid who specializes in disappearing. After a high-level heist, he makes sure that all traces of the caper vanish. Only once, in Kuala Lumpur, did it all go bad. The organizer of that job, a master criminal named Marcus, blames Jack for the fiasco, so when Marcus penetrates Jack's deep cover, it clearly means trouble. But Marcus doesn't want to kill the Ghostman, at least not yet....  

Comparisons to Lee Child are inevitable here, and surely Hobbs possesses a Child-like ability for first unleashing and then shrewdly directing a tornado of a plot, but he also evokes Elmore Leonard in the subtle interplay of his characters. A triumph on every level." - Booklist

The Twenty-year Death (M)
by Ariel S. Winter

"*Starred Review* Hard Case Crime originals are notable for capturing the feel of pulp classics without slavish imitation which makes this first novel somewhat unusual. Winter, a literary detective and former bookseller, tells an epic tale in the form of three novels written in the style of three different crime-fiction legends.

Book 1, Malniveau Prison, channels Georges Simenon as Chief Inspector Pelleter tries to deduce how a murdered prisoner escaped the prison walls. Book 2, The Falling Star, is the Chandleresque story of a private eye, Dennis Foster, who's hired to reassure a paranoid movie star and maybe take the rap for a murder. A recurring character in both books is Shem Rosenkrantz, an American writer who first seeks seclusion in France and then squanders his talents in Hollywood. In book 3, Police at the Funeral, Rosenkrantz takes over the narration with the voice of a washed-up Jim Thompson protagonist, and, as he unravels, we see how the stories are stitched together. This is audacious and astonishingly executed. Winter understands the difference between mimicry and interpretation and opts for the latter, capturing the writers' voices, not merely their vocal tics. What might seem at first like an amusing exercise for crime-fiction buffs becomes by the end immersive, exhilarating, and revelatory" - Booklist

The Next Time You See Me (M)
by Holly Goddard Jones

"Emily is a troubled 13-year-old, teased by the cutest boy in school and unable to rise above being the seventh-grade cipher. Her world is turned upside down when she stumbles across a body in the woods. Emily's teacher, Susanna, is worried about her problematic sister, Ronnie. Ronnie is a partier, a hard-drinking partier who loves a wild night out. But Susanna hasn't heard from Ronnie in weeks. Wyatt is an older man set in his ways who works at the local plant. All he has in his lonely life is his dog and his measly job. These characters and more all intersect in various ways under Jones's deft control, coalescing in a climactic ending.

VERDICT This first novel by award-winning Jones (Girl Trouble) is going to be hot. In the vein of Gone Girl, last summer's runaway smash, Jones's tightly written Southern thriller will be one of spring's sizzling titles. Jones brilliantly weaves together story lines from unexpected angles. Her writing is fluid and she keeps a pace that will have readers lacing on their running shoes. And what a suspenseful, emotional, addictive run it is! Buy it now, read it now, share it now" -Library Journal

The Thing About Thugs (M)
by Tabish Khair

"*Starred Review* The thing about Indian writer-educator Khair's first novel to be published in the U.S. is its deceptive simplicity. At first glance, this slim Victorian thriller seems no more than an expose of British imperialism wrapped in a Kill Bill plot. Khair uses a familiar Victorian literary frame (an unnamed narrator shares a supposedly true story) and formal, descriptive language to evoke the nineteenth-century setting and to create an atmosphere of eerie suspense. Night . . . crawls like a spider between the cobblestones. Soon the reader is enmeshed in stories within stories, in images outside common reality, and in bizarrely fascinating personalities.

This tale of an Indian cult assassin brought to England as a phrenological guinea pig; of m'Lord, whose fascination with head-reading becomes a focal point of the story as his minions search for the perfect Thing ; of London's invisible people prostitutes, opium dealers, immigrants, child spies, and so-called thugs begs the question, Who are the real villains? The changing narrative modes, obscure historical references, and nested plots may prove challenging to some, who might also find Khair's colloquial use of racial slurs offensive, but they help forge literary suspense that is authentic and deeply thought-provoking. Readers who enjoy Collins and Dickens will recognize their influence on Khair and revel in his creation." - Booklist

Foal Play (M)
by Kathryn O'Sullivan

"Wild horses are part of what makes North Carolina's Outer Banks such a popular tourist destination. But a dead body on the beach and a fatal arson house fire do not fit into the region's idea of Fourth of July festivities. Local law enforcement, including Sheriff Bill Dorman, is flummoxed. Fire Chief Colleen McCabe, Dorman's potential girlfriend, loves her work but can't resist a little amateur sleuthing on the side. Colleen ends up harboring an eccentric in her home and trying to puzzle out the arsonist on her own, with unpredictable results. Meanwhile, the beach victim might tie in with drug running, ratcheting the danger level a bit higher than this small town had bargained for.

VERDICT Winner of the Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery Novel Competition, this promising series debut cozy showcases a strong sense of place and a likable cast of characters. The author's gutsy amateur sleuth heroine shows great potential for future installments. This makes a nice pairing with fellow newcomer Susan M. Boyer's Lowcountry Boil." Library Journal

2013 Man Booker Prize Longlist

On July 23, autumn book award season got its first kick start with the announcement of the longlist for the Man Booker Prize. Longlists are still a relatively new phenomenon -- the Booker first published a longlist in 2001 -- they have begun to take hold, and are a great way for reading enthusiasts to explore a even broader range of new and interesting authors.

This year's Man Booker Prize has already been praised: The Guardian called it the "most diverse" in the prize's history. Halifax readers will be pleased to note the inclusion of an author with local connections Alison MacLeod for her forthcoming book Unexploded.

Below is the list of nominated titles with links to the library catalogue. As The Man Booker is a UK based prize, there are a number of titles on the long list that have yet to be released in North America: we'll be keeping our eye on these and adding them as they become available.

Five Star Billionaire (M)

by Tash Aw

We Need New Names (M)

by NoViolet Bulawayo

The Luminaries (M)

by Eleanor Catton

Harvest (M)

by Jim Crace

The Marrying of Chani Kaufman (M)

by Eve Harris

The Kills (M)

by Richard House

The Lowland (M)

by Jhumpa Lahiri

Unexploded (M)

by Alison MacLeod

TransAtlantic (M)

by Colum McCann

Almost English (M)

by Charlotte Mendelson

A Tale for the Time Being (M)

by Ruth Ozeki

The Spinning Heart (M)

by Donal Ryan

The Testament of Mary (M)

by Colm Tóibín 

The shortlist for the Man Booker Prize will be announced September 10 and the winner October 15.

Staff Pick - Cornwallis: the violent birth of Halifax by Jon Tattrie

Boy oh boy am I ever glad that I chose Cornwallis - the violent birth of Halifax (M) by Jon Tattrie to read during my recent vacation. It was the perfect read for a Halifax staycation. It gave me a such a huge amount of insight into the history of our city and province. And it greatly entertained me at the same time. It was a real challenge not to constantly share all the interesting facts about Cornwallis and historic Halifax to all those around me. ("Say did you know that Cornwallis' brother was a famous....). In the end I simply told everybody "You should read this book!

I found the Mi'kmaq component of our history to be particularly engaging, but rather heartbreaking. The book actually starts and ends with discussions about the recent social movement to have Cornwallis' Nova Scotia legacy re-evaluated, with his Halifax statue being the focal point of the movement.

Although Cornwallis was not a likeable man. He was very much dedicated to his career and his King. Nobody can deny that he worked hard and made innumerable personal sacrifices. His methodology seems cruel and heartless, certainly by today's standards. But what of the standards of 1749?  This question is the essential dilemma of those re-evaluating his place in our history.

The book is very well written, with plenty of fascinating historical detail, but also with a real sense of the personalities involved. The pacing is spot on for a casual history fan, never bogging down too deeply in the details. Tattrie very successfully evokes the setting of colonial Nova Scotia - I could feel the damp and cold of the long winter and the pall of the fear of attack. Cornwallis' frustrations were also palpable throughout the story - I almost felt badly for him.

The story follows Edward well beyond the shores of Nova Scotia, as he also had significant career stops in Minorca and Gibraltar.

This book should go a long way with helping people come to their conclusions about Cornwallis and his legacy, and how we should move forward in recognizing him as the city's founder.  Personally, I mostly agree with the perspective of Lesley Robinson, the unofficial Cornwallis cryptkeeper in Suffolk - but you'll have to read the book to find out what that is....

Highly recommended.

Staff Pick - Art and Madness by Anne Roiphe

I have read of few books in the last few years about the women who have inspired artists including The Paris Wife (M) by Paula McLain, Z: a novel of Zelda Fitzgerald (M) by Therese Anne Fowler and Claude and Camille: a novel of Monet (M) by Stephanie Cowell. None of these novels suggest that the role of a muse is without hardship, and this is certainly born out by Anne Roiphe's memoir Art and Madness: a memoir of lust without reason (M),

Anne Roiphe may be best known as a feminist author, reviewer and essayist whose novel Up the Sandbox (M) fueled her career.  Before that happened, before she discovered her own voice, she passionately desired to live her life as a muse to a great writer. Roiphe grew up on privileged Park Avenue but elected to turn her back on this life by reading publications like The Daily Worker and adopting the beliefs of writers, artists and intellectuals. It was New York in the 1950s and 1960s and she rubbed shoulders with authors like George Plimpton, Terry Southern and William Styron. She believed that alcohol fueled the writer's creativity and gave herself to them selflessly regardless of the cost.

Her first husband, a playwright, married her because he felt that marriage was meaningless, so why not marry? He took the money for their honeymoon and deserted her and spent it on alcohol and prostitutes. Her husband, who appeared to suffer from a neurological disorder, took her money and treated her with cruel indifference. She did get something out of these relationships. She was given entrance to the artistic and intellectual world she so craved that allowed her to feel as if she were Hadley Hemingway losing her husband's manuscript on a train or as if she were Zelda Fitzgerald dancing her way to immortality. Rather than the madness the title implies, Roiphe seemed as if she were besotted by this world and it took concern for her young daughter to keep her grounded and to help her eventually hear her own voice.

Anne Roiphe's daughter Katie Roiphe wrote, not only a book that I enjoyed very much Uncommon Arrangements: seven portraits of married life in London literary circles, 1910-1939, (M) but also this one that looks very interesting - In Praise of Messy Lives: essays. (M)

"Katie Roiphe’s writing—whether in the form of personal essays, literary criticism, or cultural reporting—is bracing, wickedly entertaining, and deeply engaged with our mores and manners. In these pages, she turns her exacting gaze on the surprisingly narrow-minded conventions governing the way we live now. Is there a preoccupation with “healthiness” above all else? If so, does it lead insidiously to judging anyone who tries to live differently? Examining such subjects as the current fascination with Mad Men, the oppressiveness of Facebook (“the novel we are all writing”), and the quiet malice our society displays toward single mothers, Roiphe makes her case throughout these electric pages. She profiles a New York prep school grad turned dominatrix; isolates the exact, endlessly repeated ingredients of a magazine “celebrity profile”; and draws unexpected, timeless lessons from news-cycle hits such as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “love child” revelations. On ample display in this book are Roiphe’s insightful, occasionally obsessive takes on an array of literary figures, including Jane Austen, John Updike, Susan Sontag, Joan Didion, and Margaret Wise Brown." publisher

By Any Other Name - literary pseudonyms

It has been big news in the book world that J.K. Rowling has published a book under the name of Robert Galbraith. the critics were impressed by Galbraith's "debut novel". The Cuckoo’s Calling (M) is a detective novel that some publishers initially rejected. Big mistake! Now that the cat is out of the bag (so to speak) the world is clamoring to get their hands on this book. The main character, Cormoran Strike, has been compared to a cross between Hagrid and Lupin of Harry Potter fame. He is a shaggy oversized private detective with a brilliant mind and wreck of a personal life. Mind you that sounds like a lot of mystery main characters. But Rowling has written someone that is fully realized, not just a cartoon stereotype.

Just like the novels she is famous for, Rowling provides twists and turns in The Cuckoo’s Calling that are down right magical. And to keep the theme of this blog in perspective J.K. is not her real name. Her publisher wasn’t sure that the intended readers of the Potter books (pre-adolescent boys) would read a book written by woman. They asked her to use her initials’. Since Rowling did not have a middle name she borrowed her grandmother’s name, Kathleen, to get her pen name J.K. Rowling.

Stephen King is another author who chose to write under a different name, Richard Bachman (M). If I remember correctly, his reasoning was that his publisher wanted to slow down the number of book published at one time. He got the alias from a Bachman Turner Overdrive record that was playing at the time and from a Richard Stark book he was reading. For those who do not know Richard Stark is a pseud. for Donald E. Westlake. I find this funny now as James Patterson’s publisher does not seem to have that problem. Anyway, King’s reaction to Rowling’s foray is “Jo is right about one thing – what a pleasure, what a blessed relief, to write in anonymity, just for the joy of it. Now that I know, I can’t wait to read the book.” I wonder how many people will react the same way. King also stated that Paul McCarthy suggested that the Beatles try playing as Randy and the Raiders, coming on stage in masks and such. John laughed it off by stating “They’d know who it was as soon as we opened our mouths.”

Some other authors who have chosen other names are:

Lewis Carroll was originally Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. He came up with this alias by latinizing Chalres Lutwidge into Carolus Ludovicus, loosely Anglicizing that name and reversing the order to make it Lewis Carroll.

Joseph Conrad also anglicized his Polish name of Jozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski.

Pablo Neruda is the alias for Ricardo Eliecer Neftali Reyes Basoalto. His father disapproved of a career in literature. In publishing his poetry he chose to honor Czech poet Jan Neruda by choosing Pablo Neruda, which he later took as his legal name.

Stan Lee, of comic book fame, was named Stanley Martin Lieber. He hoped to one day publish serious literary works and wanted to save his real name for that. He has become world famous for this “kids’ stuff” and eventually took Stan Lee as his legal name.

Recently deceased Iain Banks wrote science fiction under the name of Iain M. Banks.

Mark Twain was the alias of Samuel Langhorne Clemens.

I am sure that there are many other authors writing under different names for many different reasons. I have always been fascinating with names of things, especially music bands. So what do you think you would rename yourself, Dear Reader?